Ethics on Pornography

It today’s society, pornography is a fast-growing epidemic that is evident in families, marriages, and teenage lifestyles. Supporters of pornography claim that it can be used as a tool to teach students about sex education. However, critics claim that pornography is unjust, influential, and dehumanizing. Pornography is unjust because it has the potential to break down intimate relationships and marriages. It can also have negative effects on children in particular young boys. More and more young boy’s minds are being influenced by pornography which is leading to misinterpretations about how to have a healthy sexual relationship. Most importantly, pornography dehumanizes women and it exploits children. Women and children are being victimized for the sheer pleasure of someone viewing pornography.

There have been many speculations about porn and its significance. Many would argue there is no sole purpose for it other then opening up doors for people to fantasize about things that generally do not happen in a normal sexual encounter. However, that is quite the contrary research has shown over the past decade that porn isn't entirely 100% bad. Although, there are negative connotations associated with porn especially for a female, researchers are finding that more

1. There are a number of dilemmas in sexual ethics such as homosexuality, marriage and divorce and pornography. For instance homosexuality is a major problem within sexual ethics because homosexual sex cannot lead to reproduction. However sexual ethic it differs between denominations compared to government law. Therefore these issues are a concern to religious belief; different faiths have different view on homosexuality or marriage and divorce.

The word for pornography comes from the Greek word “porneia”, which means “fornication; illicit sexual behavior” and “graphei” meaning “writing”. Thus, pornography refers to illicit sexual behavior portrayed in the media-e.g., magazines, books, music, films, videos, etc. In Romans 1:29, Paul condemns the activity of the Gentiles who had rejected God by describing their activity as “being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality (porneia), wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness”. Furthermore, Paul also condemns pornography in principle in Ephesians 5:3-4 and 4:29.

In the censorship arena, there are variety of controversial, hateful and inappropriate topics debated for subjectivity. Yet, child pornography became the “leading rationale for censorship” and was outlawed in 1982 by New York vs. Ferber (Mintcheva, p.167; Adler, p.228). Children are one of the most exposed demographics in society because they don’t have autonomy and are reliant on adults. Thus, the child pornography law aimed to prevent sexual abuse and molestation. Amy Adler, contributor to Censoring Culture, argues that child pornography law is self-indulgent and further exacerbates the problem by bringing it into the public eye (Adler, p. 229). She also cites taking on the “gaze of the pedophile” as part of the problem. By stooping to the level of a sexual predator, courts and policy makers are making the problem worse. In an arena like the arts, where nudity and vulnerability are king, this controversy over what is pornography is especially delicate.

The controversy and perspective of women against pornography is one of the most beetling debates waged between modern-day feminists amongst themselves as well as between other opinionated individuals. As defined in this essay, pornography is any printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to arouse erotic, sexual rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings. The growing feminist population hosts many apprehensions as well as positive outlooks concerning the pornography industry and its portrayal of women, thus causing it to be a highly debated affair amongst those that share contrasting opinions on the matter. With the increasing interest on the matter, more feminists develop reasoning as to why they either support or oppose pornography. A copious number of those that oppose pornography believe it regresses the movement of feminist in its entirety.

For many years there has been a lot of arguments about the ethical and morality of pornography. pornography is defined as the depiction of erotic behavior intended to cause sexual excitement. When it coms down to pornography, people have different opinions about it. Some people might find it moral because it gives them pleasure and it satisfies them physically. some individuals see it as a form of art that describes the figure of a human body in an artistic form. Others see it as immoral because it harms and degrades an individual. Personally I believe that it all depends how pornography is conducted and how we respond to it. It can be morally healthy that we like it because it makes us happy, such as it helps with your marriage relationship in intimacy, and it can be immoral when it is used in an unhealthy that we do not like it because hurts an innocent person.

Many people have argued that pornography is a form of artistic expression, protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, others feel there is a distinct line between art and “porn” (Pornogrpahy). Pornography is made to provide sexual pleasure to anyone who hears, sees or reads it, it involves erotic acts. Pornography could be talking, “acting,” or anything that may sexually stimulate someone. Pornography is also, the portrayal of sexual activities and it comes in the form of magazines, movies, videos, and more. Pornography is often seen to overstep the bounds of the First Amendment and misrepresent what is means by freedom of speech. Pornography isn’t something that everyone can agree on. For example, feminist are one group of people have a variety of feelings and beliefs towards pornography. While feminist usually share the same way of thinking this is one topic that causes a major division between them. Disagreeing to agree is a common compromise that people face in life, but in the case of pornography feminist can not seem to do so.

Pornography is a billion dollar industry with a high demand for college age girls. The same stands for student loans. The difference? The latter puts you thousands of dollars in debt.

The idea that pornography gives feminists of differing opinions this middle ground that they can meet on and see how to articulate the different desires of feminism and what they want to turn it into is one of the main reasons Catherine Lumby argues that feminists need pornography (par 60). As Lumby writes in “Why Feminists Need Porn,” chapter five of her book Bad Girls, “the notion that you can draw a cause and effect line between fantasy and social practice is disturbing and distasteful to some feminists,” (par 60).

Thesis – Multiple outlooks have been taken on the ethics of pornography, and the means by which it may either negatively influence power in sexuality, or actually provide some sort of social value and worth. These different ethical perspectives display the flaws in the industry and what it represents; yet they also end up proving the fact that it can be modified with positive influence and that pornography is not something to be deemed utterly unethical.

Humanity has struggled with determining the best option to solve their ethical dilemmas that they run into in their life. Analyzing and determining the best option to take can leave an individual lost in faith and building a relationship with God. Building a God foundation in your life will help you in every ethical dilemma that you face. The only way to solve an ethical dilemma with viewing pornography is to view the dilemma according to a Christian worldview and compare different options to solve the ethical dilemma.

In recent years, the term pornography has been primarily associated with that which is accessed and streamed over the internet, rather than the literal definition of, “obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or not artistic merit.” This form of visual pornography is a popular and successful business as it is viewed for fulfilling pent up sexual desires, however it promotes the act of having multiple sex partners without the need of any commitment. Although it is for this reason that this business is permitted, there are many overlooked, long – term affects that have become topics of controversy. Not only does pornography affect those who indulge in it, but it can influence those who divulge

Lindsay Rohland (2015) defined an ethical dilemma as, “a complicated situation in which one must make a difficult choice or decision in the face of conflicting morals.” The choice between right or wrong may seem a challenging but a person’s morals are typically influenced by religion. Christianity has answers for every dilemma a person could be facing. The ethical dilemma of pornography will be analyzed by the Christian worldview, and compared to the perspective of the pantheistic worldview.

For centuries, humans have been creating explicit images to depict their sexual fantasies and desires. Times have drastically changed, however, since the first known sex guide, Kama Sutra, was illustrated in 5th-century India (King 412). The selling of sexually explicit material is a multibillion dollar industry (King 411). Today, with just the click of a mouse, millions world-wide are able to access pornography and see their sexual fantasies come to life (King 418). According to King, “One third of all use of the internet is connected to porn sites,” (419). With explicit sexual material nearly impossible to avoid, it may be difficult to decipher between what is normal sexual behavior and what is merely fantasy. There is belief that the